The invention relates generally to call centers or other call processing systems in which voice calls, e-mails, faxes, voice messages, text messages, Internet service requests or other types of communications are distributed among a number of service agents for handling.
Call centers distribute calls and other types of communications to available call-handling service agents in accordance with various predetermined criteria. In existing systems, the criteria for handling a call are often programmable by the operator of the system via a capability known as call vectoring. Typically, when the system detects that an agent has become available to handle a call, the system identifies the call-handling skills of the agent, usually in some order of priority, and delivers to the agent the longest-waiting call that matches the agent""s highest-priority skill. Most conventional call distribution techniques generally focus on being xe2x80x9cfairxe2x80x9d to callers and agents. This fairness is reflected by the standard first-in, first-out call queuing and most-idle-agent call assignment process. The above-noted skills-based queuing improves upon this basic process in that it allows each agent to be placed into a number of different service categories based on the skill types supported by that agent.
In a conventional call center, call selection and agent selection are based on factors such as business rules focused on the callers in queue, availability of agents, objectives for handling each type of call, desired work mix for the agents, and an understanding of the skills that an available agent holds. Call centers generally want to maintain schedule adherence, i.e., agents should go to breaks, to lunch, to training sessions, etc. on time and return to work on time. A significant problem that arises in conventional call centers is that an agent may not be able, for example, to leave for a break promptly if a call assigned to that agent extends past the start of the break. If the break starts late, the agent is either late to return to work or must cut the break short. Although breaks, training and other similar events in the agent""s work day are often scheduled in advance, this scheduling information is generally not taken into account in selecting calls or agents to process the calls. As a result, it is very difficult for the agents to adhere to an established schedule in a conventional call center. Conventional techniques have been unable to address this problem adequately. One such conventional technique allows an agent to enter a xe2x80x9cpending unavailablexe2x80x9d command on their terminal such that, as soon as the current call is completed, the agent automatically becomes unavailable for another call. Such a technique, however, does not ensure that a call actually delivered to an agent prior to the agent""s pending unavailable action, is one that is likely to be completed by that agent before a scheduled break or other event.
As is apparent from the above, there is a need for improved call selection and agent selection in a call center, such that an established agent staffing schedule can be more closely adhered to without unduly sacrificing call processing performance.
The invention in an illustrative embodiment modifies a call selection and/or agent selection process to include consideration of scheduled breaks or other scheduled events of one or more of the agents. In an illustrative embodiment, the modified selection ensures, for example, in the case of call selection, that the call selected for delivery to a given agent is likely to be completed in the time remaining until the scheduled break of that agent, and in the case of agent selection, that the agent selected to process a given call is one likely to complete the call in the time remaining until the scheduled break of that agent. The invention thus stores agent schedule information, and uses the stored information in the call selection and/or agent selection processes such that agents receive only those calls that are likely to be completed before a scheduled event. In an alternative embodiment, the selected call may be permitted to extend slightly into the designated time period of a scheduled event. In other embodiments, the break or other scheduled event may be postponed, e.g., for performance reasons, while the agent handles one or more calls when call wait times have exceeded or are predicted to exceed a certain predefined threshold.
The selection modification of the invention may be activated for a designated time period before a scheduled event, and the designated time period may vary depending on factors such as the type of scheduled event, the type of agent for which selection modification is activated, or the typical call duration for a given agent. Alternatively, the modified selection process may run continuously, such that the stored agent schedule information is always active as a consideration in call selection and agent selection. The call center may also be configured to select a communication without reference to the stored agent schedule information in an emergency or other special situation, such as, for example, a staffing shortfall or an unusually heavy call volume.
Advantageously, the invention permits agents in a call center to more easily adhere to an established staffing schedule by, for example, ensuring that calls delivered to an agent are likely to be completed before the next scheduled break or other scheduled event for that agent. The use of stored agent schedule information to assist in call selection and/or agent selection eliminates situations in which breaks or other scheduled events are significantly delayed or missed altogether, and ensures more efficient processing of calls and thus improved call center performance. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.